Since the dawn of the computer age, computer systems have evolved into extremely sophisticated devices, and computer systems may be found in many different settings. The widespread proliferation of computers prompted the development of computer networks that allows computers to communicate with each other. With the introduction of the personal computer (PC), computing became accessible to large numbers of people. Networks for personal computers were developed that allow individual users to communicate with each other.
One significant computer network that has recently become very popular is the Internet. The Internet grew out of this proliferation of computers and networks, and has evolved into a sophisticated worldwide network of computer system resources commonly known as the World Wide Web. A user at an individual PC (i.e., workstation) that wishes to access the Internet typically does so using a software application known as a web browser. A web browser makes a connection via the Internet to other computers known as web servers, and receives information from the web servers that is rendered to the user's workstation. Information transmitted from the web server to the web browser is generally formatted using a specialized language called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and is typically organized into pages known as web pages. Other Internet resources exist for transferring information, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Gopher, but have not achieved the popularity of the Web. In the Web environment, servers and clients effect data transfer using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a known protocol for handling the transfer of various data files (e.g., text, still graphic images, audio, motion video, etc.). When capitalized, the term “Internet” refers to the collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite or protocols.
It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the term “computer” or “computational device”, as used herein, may refer to any of such device which contains a processor and some type of memory. The networks connecting computational devices may be “wired” networks, formed using lines such as copper wire or fiber optic cable, wireless networks employing earth and/or satellite-based wireless transmission links, or combinations of wired and wireless network portions. Many such networks may be organized using a client/server architecture, in which “server” computational devices manage resources, such as files, peripheral devices, or processing power, which may be requested by “client” computational devices. “Proxy servers” can act on behalf of other machines, such as either clients or servers.
On-line commerce is now an important part of our economy, mainly because of the efficiency and the ready convenience that on-line commerce, or e-commerce, provides. Furthermore, online merchants have discovered the value of selling their goods via the Internet. Many allow buyers to place goods in a virtual “shopping cart”, and then when the buyer is prepared to finalize the purchase, they proceed to the “checkout.” At this stage, all of the items in the buyer's shopping cart are displayed with their prices, tax, shipping and handling, and a total amount due is shown to the buyer. The buyer can then enter credit card information, and pressing a “submit” button sends the credit card information to the merchant, who then authenticates the credit card and receives an authorization for the sale. The term e-commerce is used herein to refer to any commercial activity using computers interconnected by a communication network, e.g., the Internet. Because of the unique characteristics of the Internet, carrying out commercial transactions over the Internet presents new issues and new opportunities.
Recognizing that buyers may not want to conclude their purchase immediately, merchants often allow the buyer to save his or her shopping cart for a predetermined period of time. The buyer may then retrieve the saved cart at some later time, after providing the merchant with proper identification. The saved cart may then be cancelled or changed at will. When the buyer is ready to conclude their purchase, he or she may proceed to check out, in the same manner described above.
The number of online shoppers who purchase something has steadily increased from approximately 3.5 percent in 2003 to over four percent in 2004. It has been estimated that between 25 and 78 percent of online shoppers abandon their online shopping carts before making purchases. This correlates to the estimate that for every dollar of revenue made from sales online, shopping cart abandonment results in nearly five dollars of lost revenue. Furthermore, some prior art shopping carts utilize back end systems to authorize and then charge buyers. This type of shopping cart sends product and customer data back to another service before approving and adding the item to the cart.
Thus a need exists to have a synchronized shopping cart service that solves the above mentioned problem. The present invention provides a solution to these needs and other problems, and offers other advantages over the prior art.